USA, OR: Sasquatch Brewing’s Northwest Portland brewery and cidery to shut down

Sasquatch Brewing on November 10 announced it is closing its Northwest Portland production brewery and its cidery, which produces companion brand New West Cider, but it will keep its Hillsdale neighborhood restaurant open, the Oregon Live reported.

“All good things must end,” co-founders Tom Sims and Alex Beard said on Sasquatch’s social media channels. “While we’ll certainly miss all our friends and customers, we think it’s the right time to move on to other ventures.”

Reached by phone Thursday afternoon, Sims said he was relieved that “the struggle is over.”

“We’ve been trying so hard,” he said. “I’ve never worked harder than over COVID. You expect you can ease up, and it hasn’t eased up at all.”

He said profitability was the primary reason for shutting down production.

“With the rising costs of everything, things didn’t come back from COVID the way we expected,” he said. “The taproom in (the Northwest industrial district) was doing half the business from before. There’s just nobody down there working the way they used to be.

“Costs of materials has just gone crazy, and they’re going to get more crazy,” he continued. “Aluminum cans are going up, everything’s going up.”

The business partners said they have a significant stock of beer and cider and are offering it at “obscenely low prices for home delivery,” with online ordering available at Sasquatch’s website. Sims said every fermenter was full when they decided to shut the operation down, and he estimates about three months of beverage sales remain.

“Help us clear out the cooler while you stock up your fridge for the winter months,” the announcement said. Sims and Beard said they will be canning the last batches over the next few weeks, then the brewery and cidery will cease operations.

Sims said they will keep open the Sasquatch restaurant, at 6440 S.W. Capitol Highway in Southwest Portland, but they will serve guest taps after they sell out of their remaining beers and ciders.

Sims, who said the production equipment and the brands are for sale, said the closure put six people out of work. Two have found other jobs.

In 2012, Sims — former weld-grinder, former beeper salesman, soon-to-be former homebrewer – opened Sasquatch Brewing, and the brewpub quickly caught on in the Hillsdale neighborhood. It proved to be such a hit that in 2017 Sasquatch’s owners opened a second pub, returning to Sims’ roots in Northwest Portland, where the co-founder had years earlier plied his trade.

His business partner every step of the way was Beard, co-founder and part owner.

“I was looking for a job and had only ever worked in restaurants, and my buddy said, ‘Hey, my godfather is opening a brewery, maybe you could work in his restaurant,’” Beard said. So he called Sims, who needed some help as he was building out the brewpub, and Sims made his first hire.

The addition of the Northwest space was a way for Sasquatch to expand into a new kind of model. Its Southwest restaurant was at capacity, serving families and neighborhood residents, and Sasquatch needed a place to brew more beer than its little 300-square-foot brewhouse allowed.

The Northwest location created new opportunities, combining eclectic workforces and featuring Forest Park in its back yard. And the co-founders added a cider operation under the New West Cider brand.

Sims said there was a “50-50″ chance that they would eventually fire up the original Southwest Portland brewhouse and start making Sasquatch beer again, but he isn’t sure yet.

“We have so much going on closing this place, so that’s at the bottom of the list,” he said. “It’s all there ready to go, it’s just a matter of jumping in and maybe doing it at some point.”

Beard plans to help out at the restaurant for the near future, Sims said, then wants to “try something new,” though he isn’t sure what yet.

“He’s a talented guy,” Sims said. “He can do anything he wants.”

The Northwest taproom had shut down during COVID-19 then reopened before last summer. But it never picked up during the sunny months the way it usually did.

“When it started getting colder and darker out, we could see sales falling,”Sims said. “The writing was on the wall. It would have been a pretty painful winter.

“It’s really a shame, but I couldn’t figure out a way to turn it around,” he said. “If I’d have been willing to beat my head against the wall for another three years, maybe, but I’m 67. It was time.”

11 November, 2022